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Damian Lillard suffers ankle injury late in loss to Dallas Mavericks

From NBA Twitter and media reports

Damian Lillard and the Blazers were rolling heading into last night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. That loss to Dallas, however, was the least of Portland’s concerns after Lillard suffered an apparent left ankle injury late in the game.

With about three minutes left in the game, Lillard drove the lane and threw a pass to center Jusuf Nurkic and appeared to land on a Mavs player’s foot, thus injuring his ankle. Although he played the rest of the game — and scored nine points in the final minutes — he talked about his injury after the game and what he may do next.

Jason Quick of NBCSportsNorthwest.com has more on the injury:

Star point guard Damian Lillard rolled his left ankle in the fourth quarter and later had to be carted from the locker room to the team bus following the Blazers’ 115-109 loss to the lowly Mavericks at American Airlines Center.

With about five minutes left in Tuesday’s game, Lillard jumped to make a pass in the lane and landed on the foot of Dallas center Sal Mejri. His ankle rolled with all his weight on it. He played the final five minutes of the game with a slight hobble, but he said once the game ended, more pain and swelling rushed to the ankle.

…

“I think I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but I’m going to be smart about it,’’ Lillard said. “It’s the end of the season, we are going into the playoffs, so I have to be smart that one thing doesn’t turn into another.’’

…

This injury made it difficult for him to dress, particularly when he had to push his left leg through his jeans.

“It’s sore, man,’’ Lillard said. “I was just in a vulnerable position … it’s painful. I was able to finish the game, but it was worse when the game was over. (I’m) dealing with a lot more pain and swelling.’’

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